MEZCALOGIA

Mezcal joints are plentiful in Oaxaca, but Mezcalogía exists on another plane. Outwardly casual and lively, it’s a temple beneath the surface, and meticulous fanatics come here to declaim thoughtfully about finish and mouthfeel. The bar pours many mezcals, including some made by owner Asis Cortés, a sixth-generation mezcalero and a luminary in this world. You can’t go wrong ordering straight sips, but Bobby Baker, a bartender recruited from San Francisco, also mixes them with twists of local fruit, bits of exotic herbs, even insects, for the full-on cocktail treatment.